Astrid
, Stella |fullname = |jap_fullname = |alias = |jap_alias = |gender =Female |race =Beorc |relatives =Makalov (Fiancé) |game =Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn |firstseen =Chapter 13: A Guiding Wind (Path of Radiance) Part 2, Chapter 3: Geoffrey's Charge (Radiant Dawn) |class =Bow Knight (Path of Radiance) Bow Paladin (Radiant Dawn) |mirage = |voiceby = }} Astrid is a playable character from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. She is a member of the Crimean Royal Knights, and a former member of Begnion's noble House Damiel. Astrid was engaged to Duke Lekain of Gaddos, a sinister man and a main antagonist of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, against her wishes. In order to avoid being put through such misery, she left home to seek her fortunes elsewhere. Profile The daughter of House Damiell of Begnion, Astrid was pressured to marry against her own feelings on the matter, as unlike the boys of noble households, who are deemed successors and find valor on the battlefield or government, girls in Begnion are often simply tools to be used in political marriages, with several of her siblings being married off to people they neither loved nor grew to love, as can be seen from the sorrowful letters they sent to Astrid. She wears a pendant given to her by her grandmother as a memento that few people know about. It was when her father – who cares deeply about family status — engaged her in a strategic marriage to the much older Duke Lekain of Gaddos(a man older than her own father) that she decided to resist accepting her fate and left to enlist with the Knights of Begnion. She reasoned that, as a knight, her marriage would have to be postponed due to being in military service. In reality, while many were shocked and sneered at her decision, it was so she could finally break away from her past self that would do as her parents would always tell her and live on her own terms. However, being somewhat timid and hesitant while wielding her bow in battle, Astrid decided to overcome this weakness by assigning Gatrie as her bodyguard. ''Path of Radiance'' Astrid makes her first appearance in Chapter 13 of Path of Radiance. The ship she travels on in this chapter is incidentally the carrier of the Apostle Sanaki, causing it to be targeted by Daein soldiers and a few hired Kilvas Ravens. This leads to Astrid being dragged into the ensuing conflict, where she fights alongside Gatrie in order to protect the hapless civilians below-deck. Prior to the start of Chapter 13, Astrid is observed to converse with Gatrie, with the latter expressing concern over the idea of her directly participating in it. She responds by displaying confidence in her skill with the bow, assuring Gatrie of her ability to protect herself. After the chapter ends, Astrid will enlist into Ike's group, deciding that she will eventually be able to follow them away from Begnion. Astrid will stay on with the group until the game ends. After the events of Path of Radiance, Astrid will be invited to join the Crimean Royal Knights. ''Radiant Dawn'' After assisting the Crimean Liberation Army during the Mad King’s War, she joined the Crimean Royal Knights – thus severing her connections with Begnion entirely. Coming a long way from the time she first joined the Knights of Begnion and could barely keep up with a march, the experience she gained from fighting in such a large war made her an excellent bow user that is worthy of being a Crimean Royal Knight. This achievement left her with no lingering regrets toward her motherland. However, there was another reason for her being in Crimea: her “Fated Person” Makalov. Over the last three years, her affection for him deepened to the point where she says nothing but praise for him. This leads to puzzled looks from Calill, Marcia, and even Makalov himself. It does not bother her in the slightest, however. She truly cares deeply about Makalov’s happiness and well-being, a fact that is well-observed throughout the royal capital. Alongside the other Crimean Royal Knights, Astrid will launch an attack on Felirae Castle in Chapter 2-3. However, this proves to be a trap set by Ludveck, who has proceeded to lay siege on Fort Alpea at the time. The Royal Knights will later reinforce Elincia's forces in Castle Crimea at the end of Part 2. Later, during the war between Begnion and the Laguz Alliance, Astrid and the Royal Knights are deployed to a village near the Begnion border to put a stop to a group of Begnion soldiers who are pillaging the village under the orders of Senator Valtome after Elincia refuses to aid Begnion. She, along with Royal Knights, later watch as Elincia tries to stop the Begnion and Gallian armies from battling in Crimean territory and only succeeds in convincing the majority of both armies to withdraw from the battlefield. When Valtome commands his personal army to attack the unarmed Elincia, Astrid and the Royal Knights fight to defend her with the help of the Greil Mercenaries. Later, Astrid joins the Laguz Alliance in Part 3 and becomes involved in the march towards the Tower of Guidance. During this time, she is described to constantly follow Makalov around, "cleaning up his messes," according to Marcia. If she is brought inside the Tower of Guidance, she can have different conversations with some of the enemies the army faces. If the player has her fight Lekain, she tells him that marrying him would have been the biggest mistake of her life. Her conversation with Levail suggests that they know each other from the past, but it is never stated how they came to be acquaintances. If she fights against Sephiran, when he asks her if she is worried about her family, she only states that she will save them. Astrid will marry Makalov if they share an A support at the end of Radiant Dawn, but never succeeds in taming him. Personality Through her Support Conversations, Astrid is observed to be an individual with a sweet temperament, and is often shy and meek when speaking to others. During her Support Conversations with Makalov, Astrid hands over a family heirloom to him, who makes plans to sell it for money to gamble. He later returns the heirloom, claiming that Marcia has forced him into doing so. (If Marcia has been slain prior to the activation of this conversation, Ike will tell Makalov off in her stead.) This act of returning the pendant to Astrid causes her to deeply respect Makalov, in spite of his roguish and dishonest ways. Due to her upbringing, she is rather naive to the ways of the world, but is quite sincere and humble. She does not feel she is a “chosen one” much like many of the other Begnion nobles do. In-Game ''Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance'' Recruitment *Chapter 13: Starts as an Other Unit; Have Ike speak to her in order to recruit her. Base Stats Growth Rates |45% |40% |20% |55% |50% |40% |30% |25% |} Support Conversations *Gatrie *Sothe *Makalov Promotion Gains / / E* }} *'' Depends on player's choice. Overall Although she is initially somewhat difficult to train, Astrid can very quickly grow to hold her own, and can easily become a rather consistent unit. This is largely due to her Paragon skill, which doubles the amount of EXP she gets. However, this could be removed at a later level for battle-oriented skills like Sol or Adept; removing it is a good idea once Astrid reaches close to par with the rest of the other used units, especially since keeping Paragon on too long could cause Astrid to level up too quickly without gaining enough weapon experience. On the whole, Astrid will have relatively balanced stats and will usually cap her skill and speed, with her low HP being offset by her high Defense and the Knight Ward. If the player has any spare Arms Scrolls lying around, he/she may consider giving one to Astrid to boost her proficiency in wielding Bows right away, as she tends to hit a B ranking in bows once she becomes a Paladin, rather than as a Bow Knight. Her Strength and Luck growths are average, and may either end up being rather high or rather low. These issues may be easily fixed with the usage of bands from the player's second play-through onwards. Once Astrid promotes into a Paladin, she can choose to use an additional weapon type of choice. As bows come with the inherent inability to counterattack at close range, it is recommended that she pick up a weapon type with 1-2 range, namely lances or axes. Axes in particular are considered the better choice, since hand axes have more might than javelins. ''Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn Availability | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |○ |△ | | | | | | | | | |○ | |○ | | |○ |□ |□ |□ |□ |□ |□ |○ |□ |□ |□ |□ |□ |} ◎=Forced　○=Available　□=Available for selected　△=Reinforcement Base Stats Growth Rates |55% |40% |20% |45% |40% |70% |30% |50% |} Biorhythm Promotion Gains C A* }} Overview Astrid is very difficult to bring up to par with the other available horseback units she is recruited with in Part 2 of Radiant Dawn because of her low level and being locked to Bows, and her unremarkable base strength. However, with access to Paragon, Astrid can level fairly quickly and bring her stats up to par, but only if considerable effort is taken to feed her kills or let her hit an enemy for damage; in the first chapter she is available on, this can be done to some extent, but after that, if no effort has been made in Chapter 2-3, the chances of training Astrid are slim to none. Even once she reaches par level-wise with other characters, Astrid's strength and speed are not particularly impressive, which, for a Bow user, can be problematic when trying to KO enemies. However, Astrid does excel in HP, Luck, and resistance, which, with her excellent movement, allows her to pick off enemy magic users fairly quickly. Astrid's woes begin to subside once she promotes to a Silver Knight, with her strength and speed becoming roughly average. Astrid's main selling point as a Silver Knight is her higher resistance stat, which can be put to considerable use in the endgame with magic users being everywhere. Astrid is the only potential user of the Double Bow aside from the three Marksman. Her caps are overall inferior to theirs aside from Resistance, Luck, and Speed. Her only notable redeeming factor is her ability to use Lances, but in the endgame, should she use the Double Bow, the range is 1-2 for her while it's 1-3 for the Marksman because of their innate ability to attack from 3 spaces away. Overall, Astrid doesn't show much benefits to wield the Double Bow over the Marksman, but she is certainly usable. Quotes Recruit Conversation (Path of Radiance) Ike: Are you all right? Astrid: Who are you? Ike: My name's Ike. I'm with the Greil Mercenaries. I came to defend this ship—and the apostle, if I can. Astrid: Is that so? I am Astrid, of House Damiell. Ike: A blueblood, huh? Well, unless you're good with a sword, you'd better hide yourself in a cabin. Astrid: I'll do no such thing. I once trained with knight and cavaliers. I may be of noble birth... but I know something of battle. I can fight. Ike: Well, if you can fight, we can use you. Let's work together. You going to be all right with that? Astrid: More so than I would be with hiding belowdecks, certainly. Death Quotes Epilogue ''Path of Radiance'' ''Radiant Dawn'' *'Unassuming Knight' (つつましき弓騎士 Tsutsumashiki Yumi Kishi lit. Prudent Bow Knight) As a Royal Knight renowned through the land, Astrid's beauty and prowess were known to allies and enemies alike. *(A support with Makalov) Astrid disregarded opposition and married the worst idler in three countries, but never tamed him. Other Appearances Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher) Astrid is illustrated in the trading card game Fire Emblem Cipher with the following cards: Etymology Astrid comes from Ástríðr, a Scandinavian name whose roots mean "god" and "beautiful, beloved." Trivia *In a base conversation with Makalov and Marcia in Marauders, Astrid tells them she wishes she had a sibling, yet she mentions having several brothers and sisters to Sothe in their Path of Radiance B support. This is due to a mistranslation of "Marauders," as the Japanese script had Astrid instead tell Makalov and Marcia that she is jealous of how close they are. *The English localization cuts a line from Astrid and Sothe's B support where Astrid tells Sothe that her fiance seems to be even older than her father. Gallery File:AstridCardArt.png|Artwork of Astrid by Kokon Konfuji for Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher). B12-021R artwork.png|Artwork of Astrid by Fumi for Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher). B12-022N artwork.png|Artwork of Astrid by Fumi for Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher). File:AstridCipher1.png|Astrid as a Bow Knight in Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher). B12-021R.png|Astrid as a Bow Paladin in Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher). B12-022N.png|Astrid as a Bow Knight in Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher). File:Astrid PoR.png|Astrid's portrait in Path of Radiance. File:Astrid.png|Astrid's portrait in Radiant Dawn. File:FE9_Bow_Knight_(Astrid).png|Astrid's battle model as a Bow Knight in Path of Radiance. File:FE9_Paladin_(Astrid).png|Astrid's battle model as a Paladin in Path of Radiance. File:Astrid Bow Paladin Battle Model.png|Astrid's battle model as a Bow Paladin in Radiant Dawn. File:FE10_Silver_Knight_(Astrid).png|Astrid's battle model as a Silver Knight in Radiant Dawn. de:Stella Category:Playable characters Category:Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance characters Category:Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn characters Category:Beorc Category:Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher) Characters